Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-04-01

liOn.
Special Correspondents, iorMc Sunday Register
POINT PLEASANT, w. VA, March 90
Where tower in solemn grandeur the lofty
crests of Loudoun, Bolivar and Maryland
Heights, standing like grim sentinelS,
guarding the spot where the mythical
Water God rlingles the crystal tide of the
Shenandoah with the blue waters OF the
Potomac-there is Harper's Ferry-the
most eastern point Of land in West Viz
ginia. The location itself forms an inn
pOrtant page in natures great bOOk-the
physical history of the globe. Far back in
the dim past, during the Devouian Age,
when the slyny SUBMITS of the Blue Ridge
and Alleghenies arose above the surface of
a shOreleSs ocean, they held between them
a vast inland sea, for, that the present
Shenandoah Valley is the basin of an au-
cient sea or Lake there is every reason to
believe. Stretching away from the present
site of Staunton on the south, to Cham
bersburg on the north, spread one vast
sheet of water. Filling TO the top of its
basin these surging waters broke over the
eastern ridge, where Harper'S Ferry now
stands. Here, tOPa thousand years, tOamed
and dashed q raging Niagara until the
ancient wall of gray quartz was cut away.
Thus was drained the sea, and thus formed
the chasm through which the Potomac
now dashes along.
Near here the first white men who found
homes in the Valley of Virginia, crossed
the Potomac and planted the standard OF
civilization west Of the Blue Ridge 1t
was the year 1872, when sixteen families.
including those OF Jeist Hite, leo. Bow
man, Jacob Chrisman,-.R McCay,
| Robert Green. William Duff and Peter
Stevens, cut their way through the will
derHess from York, Pa, and proceeding up
the valley reared tlEir cabin near where
| Winchester now stands. They were soon
| followed by. others. Among those who
came in the next two years were Benjamin
| Allen, Riley MOOre6eld from whom Moore
field th8 county seat of Hardy derives its
name, v liam StroOp, Thomas Shepherd
name commenOrated in that OF Shep,
| herdstOwn, Thomas and Van Swearingeu,
/ Edward Lucas, John Lemon, Edward Mer.
Ger, Jacob Van Matre, Richard Morgan
and Robert Harper, whose name is pre-
served in the name of Harper's Ferry.
But the event Of greatest interest, the one
which has obtained for the place world
wide celebrity is that known as
THE JOHN BROWN ISsURBECTION.
1t was the mumbliug of the distant
thunder, the muttering of the terrible
storm of civil war, the magnitude destruc,
tiveness and results, for parallel OF which
the student of history searches the records
of the Old world in vain. The intclli-
gence that went out from Harper's Ferry
on the 18th of October 1869, sent thrill
of terror throughout Virginia and aston
ished the entire nation.
May 3, 1858, a conference was held al
Chatham, Canada, composed of numerous
representatives from various parts of the
United States and British America, the
object being TO devise the best plans for
| bringing about the cOnsummatiOn of theil
cherished hopes-the abolition of slavery
in the South. The moving slSit in that
body was John Brown or ''Old OSsawat
tamie Brown so called because of his par
ticipation in q battle fought at Ossawatta
mic, Kansas, during the trouble in thai
State. What the action Ofthat convention
WAS. never has, and never will be known,
Ibut the influence may be drawn from the
immediate action of the principal leader
Shortly after, Brown and his two sons
Oliver ard Watson, appeared IN the vlcin'
jtv of Harpefs Ferry, and under the as
sumed name "a Anderson, leased from DR..
| Kennedy, of Sharpsburg, farm in Mary
land. within few miles of the Ferry
Here a considerable quantity of arms ana
ammunition, shipped from an unknown
source, were collected, and force o.
TWENTY-FIVE eOnfederates joined him, o.
whom seventeen were white and five
| colored. At length the day for action ar
rived and Brown closed the instructions Il
the men by saying: do not take the ht'
| of any one if YOU can avoid it; but If nee
eSsary to take life in order to save you
own, then make sure work OF 1t.
The hour was 10 p. NJ, October 10, lSo9
when William Williamson, the ArSena
guard on the Potomac bridge, while walk
inc his beat, was seized and made prisoner
The guard thus removed, Brown and ms
men quietly took possession OF the ArmoTy
buildings. in which were stored iargt
Quantity of arms and ammunition. About
oneo,eIock a. m, several of the insurgents
went to the dwelling of Lewis Washing
ton. an extensive farmer and slave owner
and, arousing him, made him prisoner anC
after securing his arms and carriage anG
lproclaiming freedom to his slaves carried
him to the Arsenal. A similar visit VS.
paid to hsresidenee of John Allstadt, an
other farmer, and he, together with hi
son sixteen years Of age were brought II
prisoners. These interrogated Brown as t.
The object Of his proceedings, to which HI
| replied, $40 free the slaves" and wher
tasked by whose authority, the reply was
by the authority of God Almighty"
At 1910 a m. the east-bound mail tran
on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, will
Conductor Andrew j. Phelps, Express
Agent Jacob Cromwell, and William
lwOOley, engineer, in charge, reached Har